Discrete electrical components are terminated in a number of ways that allow attachment to conductive pads or paths on a substrate. One of the more common attachment expedients resides in the use of components with wire-like projecting terminal leads which are passed through plated thru-holes formed in a circuit board and crimped into engagement with circuit elements formed on the underside of the board whereafter the board is passed through a solder wave to bond the leads to the circuit elements. In other instances, surface mounting techniques are utilized wherein the component terminations are in the form of thin metallic tabs projecting from the body of the component. These tabs may be bent to lie flat against one common surface of the component. Such component terminations are then solder bonded to conductive sites formed on a substrate. The substrate may be in the form of a printed circuit board or a ceramic sheet on which is laid a circuit pattern of a metallized film.
In the manufacture of surface mounted components such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,228, a thin metal strip is subjected to blanking and bending operations in a progressive die to form a pair of termination tabs that project orthogonally from a pair of rail sections of the blanked strip. A component having a pair of opposed end electrodes is positioned between the termination tabs and these tabs are bonded to the electrodes by a soldering operation. In some instances, the soldering operation contemplates a precoat of solder, either on the termination tabs or on the electrodes, and the subsequent application of heat to reflow the solder and thus bond the solder to the electrodes. The assembly is severed from the metal strip leaving a pair of termination sections of the strip abutted against or positioned closely adjacent to one side of the body of the component. The terminated component may be surface mounted with the terminations bonded to planar metallic bonding sites formed on a substrate.
These prior art surface mountable components contemplate mounting the components in one orientation, that is the termination surfaces to be joined to the bonding site are in a single plane. It would be extremely useful if the components had a termination arrangement so that the components could be mounted in a number of different orientations. More specifically, in use of automatic assembly machines, it would be helpful if the components were provided with surface mounted terminations on both sides of the components so that automatic or robotic pickups could be utilized to pickup, transport and bond components that are in either of two different initial orientations. Further, if the components had a multi-surface arrangement of terminations, it would then be possible to mount the components in such a fashion as to minimize the amount of circuit substrate area occupied by the components.